'300: Rise of an Empire' Trailer Revealed

The new trailer for the upcoming "300: Rise of an Empire" has been unveiled.

"The Oracle's words stand as a warning," says a female voice over black at the start of the trailer. Moments later, we see a man wielding fire. "Sparta will fall. All of Greece will fall." The voiceover continues and the first character we see is Eva Green's Artemisia who dominates the trailer throughout. The remaining two and a half minutes are occupied by the kind of slow-motion action shots that were a staple of the first film. There are some violent moments, but there are also artful images, including an overhead wide shot that showcases the corpses of Leonidas (Gerard Butler) and the 300 Spartans from the film.

The new movie is based on Frank Miller's graphic novel "Xerxes" and features the story of Themistokles (Sullivan Stapleton) and his attempts to unite all of the Greeks in battling the mortal-turned-god Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro) and the Persian navy's commander Artemisia. The new film is directed by Noam Murro.

The studio is banking on the new "300" to continue the success of its 2007 predecessor, which grossed an astounding $210 million despite only costing $65 million. Warner Bros. has been desperate to put out a successful franchise since "Harry Potter" series and the "Dark Knight" trilogy came to an end. The company has banked on the likes of "Man of Steel" and the "Hobbit Trilogy" to compete with other studio's major franchises. While the first "Hobbit" was successful, it finished with only $300 million in domestic gross; the lowest domestic box office intake for any of the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy was $315 million and it came from the series' first installment.

The new Superman film "Man of Steel" brought in $291 million but was far from the box office success of the last two "Dark Knight films." This prompted Warner Bros. to bring back Batman for the sequel to the Superman reboot.

The studio is banking on the new "300" to carry the success of its 2007 predecessor, which grossed an astounding $210 million despite only costing $65 million.